Growing up in Nara, Japan, surrounded by tea fields, matcha has always been a part of my life. The full aroma and the deep bitter and sweet umami taste of this vivid green tea evokes so much nostalgia for me. 

When I was in high school, I started taking formal tea ceremony lessons. It was a highlight of my week. Our tea master would always give my classmates and me delicious, seasonal Japanese wagashi (sweets) and flowers, and she invited us to watch and help during her tea ceremony at a prestigious temple in Kyoto. 

I still regularly perform Chado, the traditional Japanese tea ceremony for preparing green tea. I stopped for a time when I moved to the United States, but resuming the practice here in New York has provided a valuable sense of community for me. 

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More than anything, I associate matcha with the wisdom of my elders. My 99-year-old aunt and my 98-year-old mentor, who I call Papa-san, have been making their own matcha for most of their lives. I’ve even inherited some of their matcha bowls and utensils.

Matcha is my No. 1 beverage for boosting longevity, and I drink it every day.

Matcha contains key nutrients like vitamins A, C and K; fiber; protein and the amino acid l-theanine, which has been shown to help improve sleep, reduce stress and boost cognitive function. 

It also has polyphenols like epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). Polyphenols are naturally occurring compounds in plants that are high in antioxidants and can help fight illness and inflammation. 

Studies have also shown that matcha can reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases and can improve your gut health as well. 

There are so many ways to consume matcha, including sweet treats like cake, cookies, chia pudding and mochi. 

If you ever have the opportunity to attend a Chakai (tea gathering) or be served in a formal setting, there are several rules to follow — these are some key ones.

When you are served, say “Otemae chodai Itashimasu,” which means ”Thank you for serving tea to me.” Then pick up the bowl, hold it with both hands, take a moment to look at the color and enjoy. 

After you finish, once again, look at the bowl and carefully hold it in both hands. Then return it back to the place where you were served.

The most important thing is to express your appreciation, relax and embrace the moment. 

My day starts with offering a prayer and a bowl of matcha to my ancestors. Then I make a bowl for myself and one for my son before he goes to work as a physical therapist. This daily ritual for performing Chado fills me with such a sense of peace. 

Here are the steps I take:

1. I boil approximately two ounces of water.
2. I place half a cup of hot water into my bowl and with my chasen (bamboo tea whisk), I swirl the water several times to purify my tools. Takayama, a village in my home of Nara, is famous for making chasen.
3. I drain the water and then wipe everything with a clean cloth or paper towel.
4. With my chashaku (traditional bamboo tea scoop), I measure out two grams of green matcha powder and place it on the bottom of the bowl.
5. I slowly pour approximately 60 ml of hot water over the powder and enjoy the emerging aroma.
6. I hold the bowl carefully with my left hand and whisk, making sure to hold the chasen vertically, for about 20 seconds. I call this my “gift of Zen moment.”

During the summer, I will sometimes transfer the prepared tea into a portable thermos and add about half a cup of crushed ice for a refreshing and cool to-go treat. 

One of my favorite makers of matcha is the Ippodo Tea Company. It is based in Kyoto, and has been operational since the 1700s. I also recommend using bamboo tea whisks, which you can often find in Asian grocery stores or online.

If you’re just getting started, you can always use a small kitchen hand whisk or even a mason jar with a lid — but no blender, please, the matcha powder is so delicate. 

After I complete this meditative routine, I always feel a little lighter. Simply put, it is healing. 

Correction: This article has been updated to correct the spelling of a word in Japanese.

Michiko Tomioka, MBA, RDN, is a certified nutritionist and longevity expert. Born and raised in Nara, Japan, her approach focuses on a plant-based diet. She has worked in nutritional roles at substance recovery centers, charter schools and food banks. Follow her on Instagram @michian_rd. 

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Figuring out how much money you’ll need in retirement can be tricky. After all, while some factors are in your control — such as what sort of lifestyle you plan to lead in retirement — others, like your life expectancy, are nigh impossible to predict.

Researchers at Morningstar are trying to narrow down how things will play out for most Americans. The investing research firm recently released an updated model of U.S. retirement outcomes based on spending, investing and life expectancy data, among a litany of other factors.

Morningstar’s model — which assumes a hardly guaranteed status quo for Social Security benefits in the future — predicts that 45% of U.S. households will run short of money in retirement. For a large chunk of Americans, that could mean returning to work, going into debt or drastically reducing costs to make ends meet.

But if it’s still relatively early in your retirement savings journey, there are two major levers you can pull that drastically increase the chances you’ll have enough money to live on in retirement and even pass along to your loved ones.

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One is investing in a workplace retirement account. Morningstar found that 79% of Americans who have at least 20 years of future participation in a defined-contribution plan, such as a 401(k) or 403(b), will have enough money to sustain their expenses in retirement.

The other is getting the timing of your retirement right — and the longer you wait, the better. Morningstar projects that 45% of households will fall short in retirement with a retirement age of 65. That figure falls to 28% for households who delay retirement until age 70.

When it comes to setting yourself up for a sustainable retirement, it’s very clear what tends to trip people up, says Jack VanDerhei, director of retirement studies at Morningstar Retirement and one of the study’s co-authors: “Spending longer and saving less.”

Indeed, the less money you have saved and the longer you need to make it last in retirement, the higher the chances that your coffers will run dry.

If you follow a common model, you save throughout your life in a tax-advantaged retirement account, and once you stop working, you replace your salary with a combination of Social Security and pension income (the latter is rarer these days) along with periodic withdrawals from your portfolio.

Your chances of your income lasting throughout your retirement, then, rely on maximizing your Social Security benefits and building a large enough portfolio to withdraw from indefinitely.

Here’s how to skew the odds in your favor.

Save in a workplace retirement account

It’s not hard to see why saving in a workplace retirement account tends to boost the odds of a successful retirement. By enrolling in a 401(k), for instance, you sign up to have money diverted from your paycheck directly into your portfolio, which drastically decreases the chances that you’ll spend it.

You also potentially earn a matching contribution from your employer, a benefit that financial planners often call “free money.”

By consistently investing over at least two decades — ideally more — you allow the power of compounding interest to drastically up the value of your portfolio.

“The main takeaway for young people — or at least a really important thing to highlight — is that if you have access to a plan but don’t participate, we definitely encourage you to participate,” says Spencer Look, associate director of retirement studies at Morningstar Retirement and the study’s co-author. “Just saving something is better than nothing.”

If you don’t have access to a workplace retirement plan, “saving outside of one, in an IRA, is really important,” says Look. “If you mimic [contributing to a workplace retirement account] outside of the plan, you’re still setting yourself up for retirement.”

Delay retirement if you can

Not everyone has the ability to keep working until they’re 70. But if you can, delaying retirement as long as possible has a positive “two-pronged effect” on your retirement sustainability, says Look.

For one, you shorten the amount of time you need your money to last, reducing the amount you theoretically need to have at retirement.

For another, you boost another source of income: Social Security. For anyone born after 1960, full Social Security benefits kick in at age 67. You can claim Social Security as early as age 62, but will receive a reduced benefit. Conversely, the Social Security Administration will boost your benefit by 8% per year for each year beyond full retirement that you delay claiming, up to age 70.

It’s easy to see, then, why those who retire at 70 have so much more success in Morningstar’s model. And even if you can’t delay that long, it’s likely wise to work as long as you’re able, says Look.

“It can be pretty dramatic for people. You see the results retiring at 70. It’s not possible for everyone,” he says. “But even working a little bit part time if you don’t have enough savings is something that could be helpful.”

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With no winner since early June, the Mega Millions jackpot has grown to $575 million ahead of Tuesday night’s draw — its ninth largest ever.

But don’t expect to take home the full amount if you happen to beat the 1 in 302,575,350 odds of matching the numbers for all five white balls, plus the gold Mega Ball.

That’s because the jackpot could be reduced due to income taxes, as well as the payout you choose. 

For the payout, you can choose an annuity for the full listed jackpot amount that’s paid out over 30 years, or you can take an upfront cash lump sum that works out to about half of the jackpot. Despite being less money, the upfront cash payment is more commonly chosen since it can be reinvested right away.

Then there are the taxes. A 24% federal withholding is automatically deducted from your winnings since they are considered income. However, since the jackpot puts you in the highest tax bracket, you’ll likely pay up to 37% on most of your winnings when you file your 2024 tax return.

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U.S. states also levy income taxes ranging from 2.5% to 10.9% on lottery winnings, further diminishing your take-home amount. Eight states don’t charge any income tax on lottery winnings: California, Florida, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming.

Here are the actual take-home winnings in every state that participates in Mega Millions and Washington, D.C., in alphabetical order. The prize amounts for both the lump sum and annuity amounts were calculated by usamega.com.

• Lump sum: $172,769,312
• Annuity: $349,129,380

• Lump sum: $168,772,312
• Annuity: $341,079,360

• Lump sum: $179,906,812
• Annuity: $363,504,360

• Lump sum: $167,344,812
• Annuity: $338,204,370

• Lump sum: $159,950,362
• Annuity: $323,311,860

• Lump sum: $161,063,812
• Annuity: $325,554,360

• Lump sum: $179,906,812
• Annuity: $363,504,360

• Lump sum: $164,232,862
• Annuity: $331,936,860

• Lump sum: $163,647,587
• Annuity: $330,758,130

• Lump sum: $165,774,562
• Annuity: $335,041,860

• Lump sum: $171,199,062
• Annuity: $345,966,870

• Lump sum: $163,633,312
• Annuity: $330,729,360

• Lump sum: $163,633,312
• Annuity: $330,729,360

• Lump sum: $168,486,812
• Annuity: $340,504,380

• Lump sum: $166,345,562
• Annuity:  $336,191,880

• Lump sum: $159,493,562
• Annuity: $322,391,880

• Lump sum: $154,354,562
• Annuity: $312,041,880

• Lump sum: $154,211,812
• Annuity: $311,754,360

• Lump sum: $167,773,062
• Annuity: $339,066,870

• Lump sum: $151,785,062
• Annuity: $306,866,880

• Lump sum: $166,488,312
• Annuity: $336,479,370

• Lump sum: $165,774,562
• Annuity: $335,041,860

• Lump sum: $163,062,312
• Annuity: $329,579,370

• Lump sum: $163,233,612
• Annuity: $329,924,370

• Lump sum: $179,906,812
• Annuity: $363,504,360

• Lump sum: $149,215,562
• Annuity: $301,691,880

• Lump sum: $163,062,312
• Annuity: $329,579,370

• Lump sum: $148,787,312
• Annuity: $300,829,380

• Lump sum: $167,059,312
• Annuity: $337,629,360

• Lump sum: $171,627,312
• Annuity: $346,829,370

• Lump sum: $169,914,312
• Annuity: $343,379,370

• Lump sum: $166,345,562
• Annuity: $336,191,880

• Lump sum: $151,642,312
• Annuity: $306,579,360

• Lump sum: $171,141,962
• Annuity: $345,851,880

• Lump sum: $162,805,362
• Annuity: $329,061,870

• Lump sum: $161,634,812
• Annuity: $326,704,380

• Lump sum: $179,906,812
• Annuity: $363,504,360

• Lump sum: $179,906,812
• Annuity: $363,504,360

• Lump sum: $179,906,812
• Annuity: $363,504,360

• Lump sum: $154,925,562
• Annuity: $313,191,870

• Lump sum: $163,490,562
• Annuity: $330,441,870

• Lump sum: $179,906,812
• Annuity: $363,504,360

• Lump sum: $149,215,562
• Annuity: $301,691,880

• Lump sum: $161,349,312
• Annuity: $326,129,370

• Lump sum: $158,066,062
• Annuity: $319,516,860

• Lump sum: $179,906,812
• Annuity: $363,504,360

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Saving enough money for retirement is top of mind for many working adults. In fact, 53% of Americans feel behind on planning for retirement, according to a 2024 CNBC survey with SurveyMonkey.

But you might be ignoring a key future asset you’re paying for in the present: your home.

“People see the money in their bank,” says Jason Stein, a certified financial planner and founder of Bluepoint Wealth Advisors. “They see the money in their brokerage account, their 401(k)s, their [individual retirement accounts]. They don’t often think about the money that is built up in their home.”

Here’s why financial experts say it might be smart to view your mortgage as part of your retirement savings, instead of an expense.

You shouldn’t necessarily think of your mortgage payments as burdensome expenses. Instead, they can be seen as healthy debt, says Winnie Sun, a CFP and co-founder of Sun Group Wealth Partners.

“There’s obviously unhealthy debt, like credit cards and things like that,” Sun says. “And then there’s debt that could pay it forward. One is student loans, obviously, right? And then the mortgage.”

Certain types of debt can be considered healthy because they help fulfill a need like education or shelter. And for the most part, you can expect to make consistent, predictable payments at a fixed rate.

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Your mortgage payment can be thought of as two parts: the interest and the principal amount of your loan, Stein says. The only part of the payment that is a true expense is the interest. You can’t recover the interest you paid if you decide to sell your home, but you are able to regain the dollars spent paying down the principal.

After you’ve paid off your mortgage, “you recover some of the value of those payments that you’ve made throughout the years” when you sell your home, even though there are transaction costs involved, he says.

Your home serves an important need in the present as shelter, but is also a valuable investment for your long-term savings, Sun says. If you have a fixed-rate mortgage, she adds, you’re paying a constant, predetermined amount on your home, compared with say, paying rent each month, which could fluctuate.

“It’s not like an investment property, because you’re using it for shelter, but it certainly benefits you,” Sun says. “Because instead of paying someone else’s mortgage, [like] when you’re renting, you’re paying your own mortgage, and so you have the possibility of having that asset grow over time.”

As the property appreciates, the option to sell your home in retirement becomes more viable. That cash can be factored into your retirement plan and take away possible worries about not saving enough.

It’s not unlike managing routine contributions to your retirement accounts, such as a 401(k).  

“Each year, you’re actually saving more than you realize, because you’re paying off a loan balance that at some point in the future can be recovered by selling the house, which also may have appreciated,” Stein says.

Your expected cash flow in retirement likely includes sources like retirement account withdrawals and Social Security benefits. But those may not be enough to cover the lifestyle you want, and you may not want to cut out discretionary purchases, like travel, Stein says. That’s where selling your house might come into play.

“What are some of the things that we can consider?” he says. “This is where a lot of the conversations happen.”

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Younger credit card users are unlikely to achieve a perfect 850 credit score — even with the best credit usage habits, credit expert John Ulzheimer tells CNBC Make it.

That’s because the length of your credit history accounts for a sizable 15% of how your credit score is calculated. Since younger consumers likely haven’t been using credit for very long, their credit history will be shorter than that of older consumers who have been using it longer, he says.

“You can pay your bills on time, you can keep your credit card debt modest, you can apply for credit only when you need it,” Ulzheimer says. “But you can’t control how old you are.”

Your FICO score, which is the credit score used by the majority of lenders, can range from 300 to 850 and is calculated based on several weighted categories.

• Payment history (35%): Whether you’ve regularly paid your credit card bills on time
• Amounts owed (30%): How much of your overall available credit you’re currently using
• Length of credit history (15%): How long you’ve been using your credit
• Credit mix (10%): The various types of credit you’re maintaining, such as bank credit cards, retail credit cards and installment loans
• New credit (10%): How recently you’ve applied for new lines of credit

And keep in mind that very few people have a perfect credit score to begin with. Just 1.54% of U.S. consumers reached that score, according to a May report from Experian. The majority of them were between the ages of 60 and 78.

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However, you don’t necessarily need a perfect score to reap the best benefits. “If you do all the other things properly, banks are going to be throwing money at you,” Ulzheimer says.

A perfect 850 may earn you bragging rights, but you can unlock the same benefits, including the most favorable interest rates on mortgage loans and new lines of credit, with a score of 760 or above, Ulzheimer says.

“That’s 90 points off the perfect score and very attainable regardless of how old you are,” he says.

But don’t fret if you’re not in that credit range just yet. The average credit score is 717, according to FICO.

While there’s no way to boost your score by hundreds of points overnight, one of the key moves you can make is to consistently pay your bills on time, Tommy Lee, FICO’s senior director of analytics and scores, told CNBC Make It in August.

“The good news is your FICO score is dynamic and changes with your credit behavior,” Lee says. “Your FICO score today doesn’t have to be your FICO score tomorrow.”

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